Customer Experience, The New Operational Excellence
Customer Experience, The New Operational Excellence
Customer Experience, The New Operational Excellence
experience: the
new operational
excellence
August 2018
KPMG.com/in
II Customer experience: the new operational excellence
Customer
experience: the
new operational
excellence
1 Customer experience: the new operational excellence
Foreword
India has an incredibly
diverse population. Brands
need to cater to a wide
range of consumers from
myriad backgrounds, cultures
and varying sensibilities.
The winners are those
organisations which appeal to
a customer’s core values, create
differentiation and reduce
friction in the purchase cycle.
Over the last few years, customer spending power has
increased dramatically. This has fuelled competition
in products and services between local businesses
and multinationals operating in India, implying that
customers have more choice. The erstwhile ‘anything
goes’ attitude of the average Indian customer has
been replaced with a desire for better quality in both
products and services. From the era of mass products
and services, Indian customers today are increasingly
expecting products and services that are tailored for
them and are willing to pay a higher price for the same.
The rise of the digital wave is also significantly
changing the manner in which customers are
consuming products and services through traditional
and new channels. With a very high rate of internet
penetration, brands need to weave in customer
experience elements into their core omni-channel
operating models that deliver experience through
efficiency (e2e).
Brands need to understand that their products and
operational efficiencies (inside-out) and customer
experiences (outside-in) are mirrors to each other.
Customer experience: the new operational excellence 2
Centre
firms demonstrate
mastery of these pillars
and are outstanding at all
of them.
The pillars are inextricably intertwined
and in combination provide a powerful
mechanism for viewing how well a
customer experience is delivered across
channels, industries and company types.
They are rooted in human psychology
and motivation and as such are relevant
across B2B and B2C and are as relevant for
employees as they are for customers.
Customer experience: the new operational excellence 4
108
rate the performances of 108 brands
The Six Pillars, in combination,
across nine sectors. The respondents
are an invaluable business tool for
surveyed had interactions with these
measuring a brand’s commercial
brands in the six months prior to the
success with strong performance Brands
survey taking place.
across the pillars improving Loyalty
and Advocacy of the brand.
9Sectors
Key highlights
what India values most
• Global organisations are bringing in leading but more importantly integrate these channels and
customer experience practices provide a single, unified, omni-channel experience.
The top customer experience (CX) players in India as
• Brands are not able to bridge the gap between
rated through our survey are global brands that have
customer experience delivered vs. expectations
set up base in India. Global brands such as Hyatt,
With growing consumer awareness along with
Adidas and Amazon are changing the benchmarks
new entrants bombarding the market, customer
for a superior customer experience and, at the same
expectations are rising at a much higher pace than
time, tweaking their global business models to suit
a brand’s ability to deliver on these expectations.
the Indian market.
A majority of the brands in our survey have under-
• Personalisation matters most in terms of CX to performed on the Expectations pillar; especially
drive Loyalty/Advocacy telecom and logistics. Brands that focus on a
Personalisation is the pillar with the highest impact proactive vs. reactive approach are most likely to
on Loyalty and Advocacy. Brands that are front bridge the gap the fastest.
runners in this pillar stay ahead of competition by
• India offers a great opportunity for growth; and
recognising the individuality of their customers,
customer centric strategies will be critical
adding a personal touch and tailoring their
The current landscape opens a window of
experiences accordingly. Brands in travel and hotels
opportunity to differentiate and drive growth while
sector along with non-grocery retail were the
keeping the customer at the heart of every business
standouts in this area with customers applauding
strategy.
them on providing excellent service.
–– Globalisation
• Establishing a sense of Integrity and building
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been
trust with a brand is critical for the Indian
increasingly liberalised with many sectors now
customer
allowing 100 per cent2 investment. This has
Integrity is the base of the Six Pillars. Without
led to India’s Ease of Doing Business (EDB)
engendering trust, a brand cannot gain a customer,
rank jumping from 130 to 100 in 2017. With the
much less showcase its product and service
rising number of superior quality global products
offerings. Across industries, brands have largely
available at competitive rates; making a choice is
been able to gain customer trust and need to be
becoming increasingly difficult for the customer.
able to continue to do that, to enable themselves
to be viable shopping options. 18.7 per cent of the –– Hyper localisation
total weightage given to the CEE score is based on As mission programmes such as Digital India
Integrity; with a corresponding 19 per cent and 18.4 help enhance internet penetration deep into
per cent impact on the brands’ Loyalty and Advocacy the hinterlands of India and bridge the gap
respectively. between India’s urban and non-urban markets,
understanding the evolving needs of customers
• Overall CX tends to rise with an increase in omni-
and being responsive to the local customers’
channel capabilities and touchpoints
context in a diverse country like India is the
The contemporary Indian customer not only wants
new strategic imperative. The Indian market is
his/her traditional in-store experience but also wants
segmented and differentiated in choices and
the ease and convenience that an e-commerce
preferences; from North to South and East to
experience brings. To cater to this changing need,
West. Brands cannot expect to run the full length
most brands provide both online and offline channel
and breadth of this market on a single themed
experiences. The survey shows that brands which
approach and to this effect the concept of hyper
have excelled on the customer experience metric
localisation is booming.
are those that not only provide multiple channels
3. “Telephone subscriber base shrinks in Sept quarter”, The Hindu Business Line, 28 December 2017
4. “Digital transactions cross 1 billion mark in December”, Live Mint, 4 January 2018
5. “The Year in Search Report”, Google India, 2018
7 Customer experience: the new operational excellence
Personalisation Personalisation is
the pillar that Indian
customers value
India, closely
for building more meaningful connects.
Integrity, which closely tails Personalisation,
further proves that Indian customers
feel a sense of loyalty to a brand that
followed by
engenders their trust; and hence have a
higher likelihood of recommending and
advocating it.
India’s market landscape is changing
Integrity
and customers, especially millennials,
are becoming the core of any business
strategy. Millennials have grown up with
smartphones, on-demand services, ease
of connectivity and cheap data access.
They seek brands that focus on the ‘why’
and ‘how’ and brands that move the
needle from the ‘what’ to the ‘what’s new’
and ‘what more’. Brands that are able
to put themselves in the shoes of these
customers, understand and cater to their
I buy Nike football trainers, clothing and unique needs will be the ones to achieve
football accessories for my son. He loves them. competitive superiority.
The designs are good. The shoes are stylish.
The sportspeople associated with the brand are
fantastic. My son feels extra modern when he
sports a pair of Nike.
- A Nike customer
Customer experience: the new operational excellence 8
Focusing on personalising As per our survey, Taj Hotels A particular product was shown as
experiences is enhanced with Resorts and Palaces is one
an increase in transparency of the top performers on the vegetarian (green mark). On receipt
and consistency; where Personalisation and Integrity it was not found according to the
customer expectations are pillars. The Non-grocery retail
in sync with the experiences sector, too, scores high on
specification. On complaining,
the brand promises. Brands both the pillars, with brands Amazon not only refunded the
which keep trust at the such as Tanishq, Flipkart and money but also removed the
centre of their DNA, enjoy Indian Oil being the front
a more frictionless buying runners. product from its website. It was
journey as customers
The Personalisation pillar an experience which I have never
are more willing to share
information, make purchases
also cuts across local and experienced in India. This was
global brands in India, where
and further advocate the
both segments have well
heard of only in Europe and North
brand; and are less likely to America. I am happy that my
understood the differentiated
switch to competitor brands.
Indian market and tailored country is fast changing about
their solutions.
customer related issues.
- An Amazon customer
Pillar impact on
Loyalty Advocacy
15.40%
16.40%
16.50% 16.40%
19.00% 15.40%
18.40%
15.40%
9 Customer experience: the new operational excellence
in India
customise its portfolio
to make a mark in this
diverse landscape.
Our survey shows
that global and local
brands have managed
to de-code and deliver
to the personalised
expectations of
certain sectors. Global
brands have fared
better in sectors like
entertainment and leisure
and logistics, and Indian
brands have outshined
in sectors like travel
and hotels, telecom and
restaurant and fast food.
Customer experience: the new operational excellence 10
With brands capitalising on their respective strengths, it In the non-grocery retail sector we have Indian brands
is no wonder that Indian and global brands are at par in like Flipkart and global brands like Amazon personalising
offering personalised services to the dynamic market. their platform experiences to suit the Indian mindset.
In the entertainment and leisure sector, we have a mix of Flipkart was a pioneer in offering India specific service
Indian and global brands in our market. offerings. E-commerce in India was initially treated with a
degree of mistrust specifically regarding the pre-payment
Netflix, a global brand which is a relatively new entrant in
of goods and services. To combat this mistrust, Flipkart
the Indian market has fared well on the CEE metric but
started the Cash-On-Delivery (COD) service where
has not been a front runner on the Personalisation pillar
customers would pay the Flipkart delivery person in cash
as they do not cater to the wider Indian market. Around
at the time of actually receiving the package.
three-quarters of their content is English while their
Hindi content is primarily Bollywood and their regional Amazon globally catered to first-world markets with
content is negligible. In contrast, Amazon Prime Video, higher internet penetration and entered the Indian market
another international streaming service, has fared better with similar service propositions; only to later realise the
on the Personalisation pillar by ensuring a healthier mix of differentiated behaviour our country exhibits every 100
English content (less than 65 per cent), Hindi content (25 odd kilometers. To cater to the rural market place, they
per cent) and regional content (10 per cent) at lower price launched a project where they tied up with retail points
rates.6 like medical stores, kirana shops and others. The store
owners were trained to help users to find and buy a
Hotstar, an Indian player in the streaming market has
product of their choice on the website and either get it
well understood and capitalised on the sentiments of the
delivered to the retail point or directly to their homes.
Indian market. They ensured live streaming of the IPL
matches in 2018 and attracted a high number of logins on
their platform; smartly playing on the cricket craze across
the large Indian population.7
Top 10 global brands in alphabetical order Top 10 Indian brands in alphabetical order
6. How Amazon has flicked Netflix in India, Quartz India, Ananya Bhattacharaya, 14 February 2018
7. Hotstar sets new benchmark with IPL online streaming record, Live Mint, 24 May 2018
11 Customer experience: the new operational excellence
an increase in
online stores, and expect an integrated experience
across both the channels. Brands which are able
to bring down the walls between their channels,
automatically empower their customer to interact
omni-channel
with their brand in a manner which is most natural
to him/her. By successfully responding to a
customer’s demand in any way he/she chooses,
and providing a homogenous brand connect,
they are able to enhance their customer’s overall
capabilities
experience.
Brands such as Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces,
Allen Solly, W and Titan Eye Plus stood out in this
area with customers applauding them on their
integrated approach. From a sector perspective,
the top performers were the travel and hotels
sector and the non-grocery retail sector.
Customer experience: the new operational excellence 12
Global brands - Omni-index average vs. Indian brands - Omni-index average vs.
CEE metric CEE metric
Hyatt Netflix Nike Adidas Zara Amazon Reebok Citibank Home HardFlipkart Taj Hotels Allen W Titan Baggit Tanishq DMart Natural Barbeque Flipkart
Hyatt Netflix Nike Adidas Zara Amazon
Prime Reebok Citibank Centre Hard
Home Rock Café Resorts Solly Eye Ice Cream Nation
Prime
Video Centre Rock Café
Video and Plus
Omni-Index Average CEE metric
Palaces
Omni-Index Average CEE metric Omni-Index Average CEE metric
Our survey respondents have scored both the global and Indian brands high on delivering an omni-channel experience
with both sets featuring strong on their overall customer experience excellence scores.
13 Customer experience: the new operational excellence
Sector analysis
Non-grocery retail
Non-grocery retail, our top performing sector in terms Top five brands alphabetically
of customer experience, has the largest share of brands
in our survey. The 41 brands featured, out of 108, are Sector Brand Sub sector
extremely diverse and comprise clothing retail to online Adidas Sportswear retail
retail and petrol stations to opticians. Despite the
extreme diversity, the brands on a whole have performed Amazon Online retail
extremely well. With the average CEE metric being 7.86 Nike Sportswear retail
across sectors, this sector performs well above average
with a sector average CEE score of 7.92. It performs The Body Shop Cosmetics retail
highest on the Integrity and Personalisation pillars, the Zara Clothing retail
pillars that are most important for Loyalty and Advocacy.
However, it has scope for improvement in terms of
meeting customer expectations.
There is tremendous growth of omni-channel in the
non-grocery retail space due to the emergence of
e-commerce platforms and internet penetration. This I love this brand! It offers top class
results in personalised shopping recommendations to the
customers based on their shopping history. Brands are premium products which are not available
also in a better position to understand their customers anywhere else. Best in class and truly
and can adapt and improve based on recommendations.
However, while data collection is not the problem, sifting
unique!
through the data and implementing changes based
on it can be a tedious process leading to customers’
expectations rising but not being met at the right time.
- A Zara customer
Two of our top performing brands in the sector belong to
the sportswear retail segment – Adidas and Nike. Both
brands are delving in omni-channel, and are linking their
brands to social messages which make customers feel
like they are a part of a larger purpose. Another top brand
is Amazon, famously known for its principle of customer
obsession and topping the Integrity and Time and Effort
pillars. We have further expanded our top performing
brands to include our Indian brands which include Baggit,
Flipkart, Tanishq, and W.
Customer experience: the new operational excellence 14
Pillars
Personalisation Time and Expectations Integrity Resolution Empathy
Effort
10%
8%
Percentage above/below sector average
6%
4%
2%
0%
-2%
Sector Average
Case study
Tanishq
Jewellery buying is a highly
Expectations personalised experience and can take
anywhere from 75 minutes to 7 hours
91.8th percentile in the first interaction for a purchase.
In what is seemingly a short time to
form lifelong bonds, Tanishq strives
to make their customers feel
like family.
Resolution Tanishq believes in the value of Integrity and ensures
that their customers trust the brand fully and completely.
93.5th percentile Melting gold in front of the customer so they get what
they see, weighing stones and gold separately and
having a 100 percent exchange value programme are
some of the measures taken by them. They also organise
diamond education workshops for customers to ensure
their customers have adequate knowledge on the
product to make an educated purchase decision.
Another interesting facet to Tanishq is their behavioural
standard operating procedures document called ‘Tanishq
Way of Life’ (TWOL); which goes far beyond being a
regular SOP. They attempt to bond with the customer
by celebrating customers’ special days with them; there
are stories of people getting married again on their
anniversaries within their stores! Every religious festival
is celebrated with much gusto among all employees and
customers.
To cater to disgruntled customers, they have established
service centres at every store, have well trained
employees through a combination of classroom and
on-the-job training and a well-established complaint
management system. They have two objectives from
A percentile is a division of a population into each of the
hundred equal groups that can be formed in accordance to
this: do justice to the customer and protect their brand
the distribution of a particular variable. Here, the percentile is value. In case the customer is still not appeased, the
calculated on the basis of 108 brands in the survey. higher management personally attends to the issue.
Customer experience: the new operational excellence 16
Case study
Titan Eye Plus
Titan Eye Plus attempts to leave an
Empathy indelible mark on their customers by
employing practices that ensure that
95.5th percentile a customer gets more than what they
expect.
Titan Eye Plus has come a long way in the last five
years. From their definition of customer experience
being standardisation and feedback, they have moved
to becoming a company of listeners. The voice of the
Integrity customer is heard loud and clear and constant feedback
from a plethora of sources and data analytics has enabled
Sector analysis
Restaurant and fast food
The restaurant and fast food sector is booming now Top five brands alphabetically
more than ever. From pubs to frozen desserts, our
survey covers the various categories in this sector Sector Brand Sub sector
with a representative 17 brands out of a total of 108. Barbeque Nation Restaurant
Restaurants and fast food sector has scored an average
of 7.88 on the CEE metric, compared to the study Gelato Italiano Frozen desserts
average of 7.86. It fares the best (and equally well) on the
Hard Rock Café Pubs
Integrity and Time and Effort pillars.
Karachi Bakery Bakery
Until a few years back, going out for a meal was reserved
for special occasions only. Today, with a larger number Natural Ice Cream Frozen desserts
of urban women in the workforce, longer working hours,
a millennial population that is on the constant lookout
for new culinary experiences and increasing disposable
incomes, stepping out for a meal or ordering food home
is a frequent occurrence. These drivers account for the
strong growth witnessed in this sector.
Barbeque Nation ranks high in our survey for catering to
the experimental and novel expectations of customers It offers unique flavours like tender
by bringing the grill-on- the-table concept to India. coconut and jackfruit, which are
They have scored well on the Integrity and Time and
Effort pillars. Natural Ice Cream, known for its fresh my favourites. I once dropped my
ingredients with no preservatives, has fared well on the ice cream in the store and the
survey too, garnering a high score on the Integrity and
Personalisation pillars.
personnel were so generous, they
gave me another scoop for free!
Pillars
Personalisation Time and Expectations Integrity Resolution Empathy
Effort
8%
6%
Percentage above/below sector average
4%
2%
0%
-2%
-4%
-6%
Sector Average
Barbeque Nation Gelato Italiano Hard Rock Café Karachi Bakery Natural Ice Cream
19 Customer experience: the new operational excellence
Case study
Barbeque Nation
Barbeque Nation is one of the top
Empathy brands offering superior customer
experience and finds space in the
93.8th percentile upper echelons of global brands in this
segment.
Barbeque Nation thrives on a culture of feedback. The grill-
on-the-table concept was born out of customer feedback
given to Kebab Villa, a sister brand, that food would come to
the table cold and unpalatable.
Resolution Keeping in line with the manner of their inception, they
continue to base their culture and operational capabilities
92.5th percentile around constant feedback. For this, they have their
Guest Satisfaction Index (GSI) – where they call few of
their guests the day after their meal and find out their
experiences. They also respond to real-time feedback on
their e-tabs with the restaurant manager instantly attending
to a bad review, as well as keep tabs on food review sites
and other social media reviews with prompt responses.
Barbeque Nation has multiple stories on how they have
implemented feedback. For instance, they made white
butter chicken for one customer who did not like it in red.
In another instance, they specially made Chinese food for
a customer who did not want the cuisine the restaurant
offered on that particular day. They have even gone to a
customer’s home with a cake as they did not celebrate their
birthday/anniversary at the restaurant.
They customise their buffets to cater to the local flavour
and often take inputs from their chefs and introduce
new dishes. They organise food festivals - they recently
celebrated a Mohammed Ali Road food festival and
previously, it was a Filmy Retro festival with décor from the
1960-70s movies and Bollywood music. They take ideas for
these festivals from their customers and staff.
Barbeque Nation has developed a unique approach to
interact with their customers on digital platforms. They try
to celebrate food and build a ‘barbeque culture’ rather than
create a fan base. Their content is witty, funny and smart
and they try to provide a homogenous experience
across platforms. Thus, they build brand
evangelists over time - their own customers!
Customer experience: the new operational excellence 20
Sector analysis
Grocery retail
Grocery retail in our survey comprises supermarkets, Top five brands alphabetically
hypermarkets, premium and online grocery retail,
consequently covering a large number of sub-segments. Sector Brand Sub sector
While the total average of the CEE metric across all bigbasket.com Online grocery retail
sectors, measured in the survey, stands at 7.86, this
sector performs slightly below average with a score of Big Bazaar Hypermarket
7.78. The outperformer in terms of excellent performance DMart Supermarket
is DMart, which fares best on the Integrity and
Personalisation pillars. The grocery retail segment as a Grofers Online grocery retail
whole fares the best on the Integrity and the Time and SPAR Hypermarkets Hypermarket
Effort pillars, while faring the least on the Expectations
pillar.
The segment is still in its nascent stage, and is
dominated by the unorganised market of general stores,
convenience stores, kirana shops, street markets and
the like. The unorganised segment fares better than
the organised segment due to its highly personalised,
localised product and service offerings, free home
delivery and proximity to the customer; sparing them
time and effort in their path to purchase. They come I have had a good experience with DMart.
up with personalised solutions to maintain customer The personnel are welcoming and are
stickiness. For instance, during demonetisation,
the unorganised sector offered credit to their loyal extremely polite, even during an argument
customers. with the customer. Their products are
Consequently, players in the organised segment are cheaper than other stores but are of
not just competing amongst themselves but with the good quality and they have an excellent
unorganised sector too, and the segment therefore is not
faring too well. To perform well, brands must be willing to refund policy. I generally like the store’s
offer much better customer experiences, at par or even atmosphere.
better than what is offered by the unorganised segment.
- A DMart customer
21 Customer experience: the new operational excellence
Pillars
Personalisation Time and Expectations Integrity Resolution Empathy
Effort
8%
6%
Percentage above/below average
4%
2%
0%
-2%
-4%
-6%
Sector Average
Case study
DMart
DMart succeeds because it does small
Personalisation things repeatedly and consistently.
92.5 percentile
th DMart has a different business model than the rest
of the players in its segment which has proved to be
successful, not just on our CEE metric but also in the
market. They have never had to close down or shift
a store in their many years of business operations.
Meticulous planning, a deep understanding of their
customers’ wants as well as their lower than average
prices keep the brand relevant.
Expectations DMart is cautious and understands what it wants to sell.
While other retail brands have diversified into segments
85th percentile like electronics and clothing, DMart sticks to food and
groceries. They also steer clear of creating private labels
or brands and house all their products under a single
brand name. DMart focuses on selling low cost products
which are necessities to the customer and offers them
at prices slightly below MRP. As their inventory turnover
ratios improve, they bargain with wholesalers for even
lower prices which trickle down to the customer. Thus,
DMart offers good quality products at lower prices than
its competitors.
DMart has started to adopt the concept of hyper
localisation by offering customised products depending
on specific location preferences. Their product stock
varies as per region on the basis of preferences
showcased by their local customer groups. Even though
their product offerings are limited, their focus lies on
living up to their customers’ expectations.
23 Customer experience: the new operational excellence
Sector analysis
Travel and hotels
The travel and hotels segment is quite vast, comprising Top five brands alphabetically
brands across hotels, travel aggregators, rail, airlines and
more. Sector Brand Sub sector
Compared to the average CEE score of 7.86 across all Club Mahindra Holidays Hotel
sectors measured in the survey, this sector has scored
Ginger Hotels Hotel
7.88, a little above average. It has fared the highest on the
Integrity and Personalisation pillars but has fallen short of Hyatt Hotel
meeting customer expectations and being empathetic.
Jet Airways Transport - airline
The hotels segment largely depends on offering good
customer experiences as they come under the purview Taj Hotels Resorts and
Hotel
of luxury more than a necessity. The CEE score for this Palaces
sector is largely driven by hotels despite the gamut of
services offered by other brands.
- A Hyatt customer
Customer experience: the new operational excellence 24
Pillars
Personalisation Time and Expectations Integrity Resolution Empathy
Effort
12%
10%
8%
Percentage above/below sector average
6%
4%
2%
0%
-2%
-4%
-6%
Sector Average
Club Mahindra Ginger Hotels Hyatt Jet Airways Taj Hotels Resorts
Holidays and Palaces
25 Customer experience: the new operational excellence
Case study
Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces
To offer best rates to their customers on their website,
Expectations they have a ‘best rate guarantee’. In the event a lower
price is found on another website, the hotel chain would
match the lower rate and provide an additional 10 per
100th percentile cent discount.
Their loyalty programme offers a host of premium
benefits such as no black-out dates for booking hotel
rooms, real time redemption options for food, beverage
and spa at all participating hotels. With their ‘Warmer
Welcomes’ alliance, the loyalty programme members
can use their points for stays across Shangri-La hotels
Empathy worldwide.
98.2 percentile
th The brand also ensures that ‘listening’ is not limited to
complaints. Their property management system knows
their guests’ preferences and this information travels
across the hotel chain system. All elements of the stay
are taken care of, whether the customer requires a
feather down pillow or likes their hot chocolate scalding
Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces has hot. A majority of their staff has worked with the brand
topped our customer experience for a considerable amount of time and recognises
excellence metric despite facing customers by their names, faces and personal
preferences. Ergo, this ‘listening’ is both culture and
stiff competition from major global process driven.
players. The brand is known for Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces also indulges in social
providing a variety of unique local listening where they use tools to monitor their guests’
experiences and ensuring that their social media feeds, allowing them to service their guests
better. For instance, if a guest has tweeted that he/she is
customers’ expectations are always staying at the hotel for her birthday, the staff will ensure
exceeded. that a cake is delivered to the person.
The brand thrives on the ‘surprise factor’ of providing
incredible service to their customers. Customers often
talk about how the hotel chain pays attention to minute
details of their stay and ensures that they feel special
throughout.
Customer experience: the new operational excellence 26
Sector analysis
Entertainment and leisure
Entertainment and leisure sector in our survey Top five brands alphabetically
comprises streaming services, gyms and cinemas; with
a representative eight brands being surveyed from this Sector Brand Sub sector
sector out of a total 108. While this sector does not Amazon Prime Video Streaming service
fare well in meeting customer expectations, it performs
exceedingly well on the Time & Effort and Integrity Hotstar Streaming service
pillars. Netflix Streaming service
The top streaming services, Amazon Prime Video and PVR Cinemas Cinema
Netflix, fare well on the Personalisation pillar, as they
are able to make recommendations of shows, based on Talwalkars Better
Gym
viewing history. Value Fitness
The gym brands, Talwalkars Better Value Fitness and
Gold’s Gym, also fare well on the Time & Effort pillar;
due to the opening of multiple outlets across the country
providing ease of access and convenience. They have
also expanded beyond simple gym services and are
becoming a one-stop shop for those with unique fitness I’ve been using Netflix for a year now and I’ve
goals, by offering other services like yoga, zumba, steam
rooms etc.
been on it almost every alternate day or every
Among cinemas, PVR Cinemas fares much better than
day. The amount of content on it astonishes me.
INOX Group on the CEE metric. Compared to INOX I’ve always had something new to see and it
Group, PVR Cinemas stands stronger on the Resolution wasn’t disappointing at all. I really love how they
and Empathy pillars.
include new TV series and films every month.
The Netflix Original series has never been able to
disappoint me, it’s always a classic and always
a blockbuster even though there are various
genres of it. Overall, I’m very happy with my
experience with Netflix.
- A Netflix customer
27 Customer experience: the new operational excellence
Pillars
Personalisation Time and Expectations Integrity Resolution Empathy
Effort
8%
6%
Percentage above/below sector average
4%
2%
0%
-2%
-4%
Sector Average
Case study
Talwalkars Better Value Fitness
Talwalkars also pays attention to what others might
Empathy consider only minor details. For their outlets in South
India, they have installed refrigerators in women’s
washrooms specifically for storing their flower hair
82nd percentile ornaments – gajara.
Another wonderful part about Talwalkars is the bond
that the trainers and their clients form. Talwalkars
reports that clients and trainers are often invited to
family weddings. Customers feel the familial comfort
they get at home at their gym!
81st percentile
chain. So, if customers relocate, they are likely to find
a Talwalkars gym in their area and can continue their
interactions with the brand.
Considering the aspect of customer service, Talwalkars
believes that acting on customer feedback keeps them
With 220 outlets across 84 cities in relevant. Customer complaints are handled by territory
India and Sri Lanka, Talwalkars Better managers whose incentive structure is based not just
Value Fitness is one of the largest on the financial performance of the organisation but
also on resolution of customer complaints.
fitness chains in the country. Currently
In conclusion, Talwalkars makes it hard for their clients
in the process of a demerger, where to leave by playing the role of a one-stop shop for
their gym and lifestyle services will fitness needs. With their wide expansion across the
be split, the company is ensuring country, Talwalkars is made easily accessible.
that they understand their customer
and take the right steps to deliver
exceptional customer experiences.
What seems to give Talwalkars an edge over the
competition is the gamut of services it offers. It is not
just a gym – but offers many more services like Yoga,
spa, Zumba, NuForm (a quick weight loss method
pioneered by them) etc. This approach enables them
to cater to a wider variety of customers. A person may
opt for a trainer at home or NuForm if they are put in a
position where they cannot come to the gym.
29 Customer experience: the new operational excellence
Sector analysis
Telecom
The telecom sector in our survey comprises three brands Top three brands alphabetically
out of a total 108 brands. This sector performs well on
the Integrity and Personalisation pillars but has scope for Sector Brand Sub sector
improvement on the Empathy pillar. While the average Bharti Airtel Telecom
CEE score is 7.86, this sector performs below average
with an average score of 7.64. Jio Telecom
- A Jio customer
Customer experience: the new operational excellence 30
Pillars
Personalisation Time and Expectations Integrity Resolution Empathy
Effort
8%
6%
Percentage above/below average
4%
2%
0%
-2%
-4%
-6%
Sector average
Case study
Jio
spot SIM activation. This pushed them to start a 10
Personalisation minute SIM activation policy on presentation of one’s
Aadhaar card, in India as well.
71st percentile With the advent of LTE technology in India, they released
a range of LTE phones called Lyf to counter device
compatibility and price issues.
Each Jio customer care centre is regularly audited by
the brand and dashboards are presented at each centre
to show the performance levels. This is done based on
mystery shopping programmes, social listening and ticket
Expectations resolution. Under the purview of this social listening, Jio
not just listens to the complaints of their own customers
75th percentile
but also of their competitors’ customers. In case a
competitor’s customer is disgruntled with their network
service, Jio steps in and offers to deliver a Jio SIM card
directly to the person’s home.
From a customer grievance point of view, all Jio
employees are empowered to reverse money to the
customer in case of a claim of wrong charges. No
Jio strives to be a customer centric questions are asked in case of dispute in billings and
brand through the length and tariffs and the customer is given the benefit of the doubt.
breadth of their customer and Jio believes that constant innovation and staying ahead of
the curve are the key to catering to customer needs and
product lifecycle. They look to cater expectations.
to the Indian psyche by providing
disproportionately more value at
lower price points.
They have aimed to bring about a societal change in
India by making voice calls and 4G data absolutely free;
thereby working towards ensuring a connected nation.
Their aim is to constantly innovate and meet customer
expectations, be it keeping up with changes in
technology or demand for instant services. They were
inspired by the fact that other countries allowed on the
Customer experience: the new operational excellence 32
Financial Restaurants and Telecom Travel and Non-grocery Grocery retail Entertainment
services fast food hotels retail and leisure
Customer experience: the new operational excellence 34
Key takeaways
Best CX brand in India: Taj Hotels Resorts Best performing sectors are non-grocery
#1 and Palaces
With a score of 8.5, the brand has been rated
retail (7.92) and entertainment and
leisure (7.89)
by Indian consumers as the highest rated CX With 28 of our top fifty brands either from
brand in India. Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces the non-grocery retail or the entertainment
also scored the highest on the pillars of and leisure sector, both are highly
Integrity and Personalisation. competitive with little differentiation noted in
the experiences delivered.
Overall customer experience in India: 7.86
Abhijeet Ranade
Partner and Head
Customer & Channel
Management Consulting
T: +91 120 6747 7007
E: [email protected]
Aditya Rath
Partner
Customer & Channel
Management Consulting
T: +91 22 3090 2580
E: [email protected]
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